Associate Epidemiologist, Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital

celia.byrne@channing.harvard.edu

One of Dr. Byrne's research interests has been to understand how various risk factors interact and how the effects combine to impact disease etiology. Much of her recent research has focused on the etiology of breast cancer and how specific biological conditions or features of the breast may be considered as intermediate markers of breast cancer risk. Tissue from benign breast biopsies provides evidence of localized biologic processes while a more general overall assessment of breast features are made from mammographic images of the breast. Studying the distinct biological breast features with these different techniques will provide insight into the process of intermediate markers of disease risk. To better study benign breast conditions, Dr. Byrne coordinates the acquisition of breast pathology specimens for the Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II. Dr. Byrne is analyzing what factors increase the risk of developing benign breast conditions and how the effects associated with the detailed histological characteristics from these pathological specimens interacts with the other known breast cancer risk information. Dr. Byrne has intiated studies of mammographic features and breast cancer risk within the Nurses' Health Study cohorts. Her current research in this area will evaluate how endogenous hormones are associated with mammographic features and subsequent risk of breast cancer. In addition to her research in breast cancer etiology, Dr. Byrne has completed several studies to evaluate alternative methods of dietary assessment that ascertains specific dietary and cooking habits. Assessing dietary habits in addition to specific food consumption may provide a better measure of long-term dietary intake as well as non-food intake such as the exposure to chemical compounds formed during the cooking of foods.

Selected Publications

Byrne C, Brinton LA, Haile RW, Shairer C. Heterogeneity of the effect of family history on breast cancer risk. Epidemiology 1991;2:276-284. [abstract]

Byrne C, Smart C, Chu K, Hartmann W. Survival advantage differences by age: evaluation of the extended follow-up of the Breast Cancer Center Demonstration Project. Project Cancer 1994;74:301-310. [abstract]

Schairer C, Byrne C, Keyl P, Sturgeon S, Brinton LA, Hoover RN. Menopausal estrogen and estrogen-progestin replacement therapy and risk of breast cancer. Cancer Causes and Control 1994;5:491-500. [abstract]

Madigan MP, Zeigler RG, Benichou J, Byrne C, Hoover RN. Proportion of US breast cancer cases explained by well established risk factors. J Natl Cancer Inst 1995;87:1681-1685. [abstract]

Byrne C, Schairer C, Wolfe J, Parekh N, Salane M, Brinton LA, Hoover R, Haile R. Mammographic features and breast cancer risk: effects with time, age and meopause status. J Natl Cancer Inst 1995;87:1622-1629. [abstract]

Byrne C, Ursin G, Ziegler R. A comparison of food habit and food frequency data as predictors of breast cancer in the NHANES I/NHEFS cohort. The Journal of Nutrition 1996;126:2752-2764. [abstract]

Byrne C. Breast. In: Harris A, et al (eds). Cancer rates and risks, 4th ed. Washington, DC:US Department of Health and Human Services, 1996;120-123.

Benichou J, Byrne C, Gail M. An approach to estimating exposure-specific rates of breast cancer from a two-stage case-control study within a cohort. Stat Med 1997;16:133-151. [abstract]

Marshall LM, Hunter DJ, Connolly JL, Schnitt SJ, Byrne C, London SJ, Colditz GA. Risk of breast cancer associated with atypical hyperplasia of lobular and ductal types. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1997;6:297-301. [abstract]

Laden F, Spiegelman D, Neas LM, Colditz GA, Hankinson SE, Manson JE, Byrne C, Rosner BA, Speizer FE, Hunter DJ. Geographic variation in breast cancer incidence rates in a cohort of US women. J Natl Cancer Inst 1997;89:1373-1378. [abstract]

Smart CR, Byrne C, Smith RA, Garfinkel L, Letton AH, Dodd GD, Beahrs OH. 20 year follow-up of breast cancers diagnosed in the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project. CA Cancer J Clin 1997;47:134-149. [abstract]

Byrne C. Studying mammographic density: implications for understanding breast cancer (editorial). J Natl Cancer Inst 1997;89:531-533. [abstract]

Byrne C, Sinha R, Platz EA, Giovannucci E, Coldtiz GA, Hunter DJ, Speizer FE, Willett WC. Predictors of dietary heterocyclic amine intake in three prospective cohorts. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1998;7:523-529. [abstract]

Saftlas A, Byrne C. Fibroglandular breast cancer tissue assessments by mammography and MR imaging (letter). AJR 1998;70:3. [abstract]